With this module, our objective is to facilitate learners’ understanding of Marketing and a series of “HOW TOs” that are directly related to the proficiency with this discipline, such as:
• define long-term communication strategies • engage external public • create and retain value for one’s own brand • establish a positive reputation • intercept needs and opportunities from the external environment • define market positioning strategies • outline a user-friendly and easy-to-understand marketing plan
Description
The content of this module is designed to facilitate targets’ introduction to topics and terminology that are widely common in established Marketing’s theory and practice.
In general, scholars and practitioners agree on the fact that Marketing is a very broad concept. In this context, we decided to narrow it to its very essentials, without necessarily relying on specific technicalities on which their deepening would require multiple stand-alone training modules.
Our focus is on providing learners fundamentals of Marketing that they can replicate and experiment with within their operational settings.
Contents in bullet points
• Creating and retaining value o The Value Equation o Socio-economic context of reference. o Inputs’ processing o People
• …so what is Marketing about? o Two outstanding definitions o Needs and wants… o Types of Marketing based on the operative context o Types of Marketing based on focus o The Marketing Mix o The Marketing Mix in the Business Plan
Contents Creating and retaining value for customers: a comprehensive introduction to Marketing for aspiring entrepreneurs
In a broader sense, business value builds from three key pillars:
Socio-economic context of reference.
It refers to the overall scale of phenomena that might have an influence on your business idea. Technologies and market trends represent two of the most impactful trends that (aspiring) entrepreneurs look into to design and scale-up their business idea.
Generally speaking, this dimension refers also to:
Competitors – strengths and weaknesses
Customers – actual and potential
Due to the typical scale and scope of sport-related business ideas, it is relatively easier to find specific market segments at high profitability margins. More than in other markets, clients of sport industry:
Are very well-informed
Tempt to aggregate in (online) communities
Cluster in well-recognizable segments
Have higher spending potential
Inputs’ processing
The value generation process falls under a framework that is common to all business.
It is the so defined IPO model:
→ Input
→ Process
→ Output
In business studies, we tempt to consider Marketing among those activities defined as Primary*: contributing in first hand to reach the final client and generate revenues.
* Interpretation based on Porter’s Value Chain: Competitive Advantage, 1985, p.87
People
With People, we refer both to:
Internal workforce* – knowledge, expertise, skills and competences
! Those who make things happen!
External Stakeholders – groups of interest, and more in general, whoever might have an interest on business’ activities
*Contrary to Marketing, HR and People Management fall under Support activities – instrumental for a smooth implementation of Primaries.
In business, the concept of value is very flexible and can have different interpretations:
Value as QUANTITY – the amount of something produced, achieved, reached, etc. in a given period, also in terms of time invested.
Value as QUALITY – the quality standards of that given something generated in a given period, also in terms of time invested.
Value as OUTPUT – tangible results, more or less concrete as a product, a service or a strategy.
Value as OUTCOME – impact(s) that generates from OUTPUT(s), benefits that come in shapes and forms of, for instance: better expertise, higher profitability and competitiveness, market’s awareness of our offer, etc.
Value as REVENUES (R) – Price (P) * Quantity (Q) of a given product / service placed on the Market.
Value as PROFIT (∏) – R - Costs (C), i.e., salaries.
This section of the training module is dedicated to introduce participants to what we refer to in business environment when we talk about Marketing.
Generally speaking, people have a “sort of” idea on what is Marketing, as it is normally associated to promotion, advertising and communication. Although this is technically true, it is a very limited and reductive perception of Marketing and its focuses…
Any activity/task/effort/initiative formally aimed at stimulating customers’ interest can be intentionally considered as “Marketing”. A definition as such of Marketing cover a much larger area of interest that includes communication and promotion and goes way beyond it.
In the context of this training module, our favourite definitions of reference are represented by the ones from:
American Marketing Association (AMA)
[Marketing is] the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
Philip Kotler – considered by many as one of the most representative Marketing’s expert worldwide
[Marketing is] the process by which companies engage customers, build strong customer relationships, and create customer value in order to capture value from customers in return.
Relevant to notice is the difference between the twos:
AMA’s Marketing definition is very market-centred, including a wide range of activities and tasks aimed at satisficing not only customers’ satisfaction, but that of civil society and general public at large. Compared to AMA, Kotler’s definition is much more customer-centred.
Regardless of the specific contributions academics and practitioners, all definitions applied to marketing revolving around to three everlasting pillars:
Depending on the operative context and the specific market that the organisation looks into, there are several Marketing’s frameworks:
Business to Customers (B2C), the form of marketing that we’re most used to and familiar with. B2C Marketing refers to that implant of activities and strategies implemented and carried out by an organisation to reach for consumers of product and services (i.e., the avarage Joe).
Business to Business (B2B), when companies and organisation are targets themselves of other organisations’ supply (raw materials, services, equipment and machinery, etc.).
Customer to Business (C2B), this format is the reversed version of B2C. C2B Marketing always existed and never expired from the scene. Nowadays, in the era of social media influencers, online reviews, blogging, etc., it is becoming even more tangible and valuable for organisation. When people participates in focus groups, surveys, interviews, etc. they a providing to businesses data (i.e., services) of great values that organisations will further process as inputs from the market.
Customer to Customer (C2C), made popular by e-bay and now normalised by the numerous online platforms that made of sharing economy their business model. C2C Marketing is when customers purchase goods/services one another through a third party mediator.
In practice, there are some quite significant implications for businesses operating in B2B markets, compared to B2C ones. The terms of this distinction are:
Demand
Purchasing volume
Number and concentration of customers
Distribution
Negotiating power
Promotion and advertising
Other Influence variables
In the case of sport-related industries, for B2B and B2C, it is most likely that you will orientate your marketing activities to final consumers (B2C) or retailers / other actors of the production chain. In C2B, it is most likely that you will rely on this kind of formula when experiencing with influencers’ social media campaigns. C2C is a Marketing framework that applies to sharing economy’s businesses – very unusual (but not impossible) for sport-related industries.
It is commonly accepted by theorists and professional that since 1930s, Marketing evolved through fours well-distinct eras. As we speak, we are culminating at the peak of the so defined “relationship” era.
The PRODUCTION era → focus on product
The SALES era → focus on brand
The MARKETING era → focus on advertising
The RELATIONSHIP era → focus on customer-centred experience
Which one should you opt for in sport industry?
…there is not a unilateral answer, it really depends on what is the underlie value of your offer.
Are you developing high-tech running sneakers? Product
Are you developing a webzine for off-road bikers? Relation
Are you developing a new hydrophobic swimsuit? Product
Are you developing eco-friendly gym elastic band? Sales
Are you developing an app to monitor athletic performance? Sales
The Marketing Mix is the most important tool at the disposal of Marketing specialists to generate product/service awareness and place their offer to the final market. For decades, the model of reference to design the marketing mix has been represented by the 4Ps model, originated in the 60s:
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
Around the 80s, two variants found a consolidated consensus among theorists and practitioners: the 7Ps and 4Cs models.
8Ps:
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
People
Process
Physical evidence
Partnership
4Cs (customer driven):
Product → Consumer
Price → Cost
Place → Convenience
Promotion → Communication
For the sake of this training module, let’s look at the left one only. Each of the mentioned represents an asset on which entrepreneurs rely on to give content and format to the many possible way they can reach their market of interest (e.g., off-road bikers, runners, swimmers, etc.).
Product What are you selling
Price At what price
Place Where – physical store? Online?
Promotion How are you going to communicate it – eMedia?
People Who’s collaborating with you in this journey?
Process Organisation of primary and secondary activities
Physical evidence Product design and branding
Partnership Cogenerating value for the whole production chain
Tips:
Bear in mind
Even the slightest change in one of the aforementioned will impact (at least!) one of the others.
Make sure to compile all information into a formal Marketing Plan
When we talk about “Marketing Mix”, we refer to the formal document in which organisation, entrepreneurs and marketing specialists detail the marketing strategy for the overall organisation or for a specific service/produce launched in the market.
Generally speaking, the marketing planning is included already into the overall business plan of the organisation:
Executive Summary Summary of the business plan
Business leadership Founders
Offer Product / service, and how they mix
Covered market(s) Customers & competitors
Distribution and Marketing
Business model Coordination of activities and processes
Legal form
Risk assessment Mapping & identification
Capital requirements
Financial projections Cash flow, balance sheet, income statement
Miscellaneous, i.e. Staff’ CVs, surveys and analysis, etc.
The ones highlighted in blue represent the typical sections in which you will provide for very precise information about your marketing mix.
Recommendation:
For a better reader’s understanding, you can attach your whole marketing plan in annex to the business plan. The general outline of a Marketing Plan is a narrative disclosure of the 8 key elements of the Marketing Mix, with specific reference to:
Summary
Market and competitors’ analysis
Marketing strategies (i.e., Marketing Mix)
Budgeting and financial resources
Monitoring and evaluation mix
Extra reading no. 1: New marketing frontiers
In globalised economies and societies, Marketing specialists are particularly responsive to the wide cultural diversity within their audience. Diversity Marketing is about fine-tuning organisation’s communication and messages to the cultural background of potential recipients.
Even for large organisation, understanding the intrinsic diversity of their customers (loyal as well as potential) is a very delicate and time-demanding process, but it is also instrumental in reflecting, portraying and valorising a trustworthy and reliable image: the one that people would expect before establish any sort of relation with that given organisation.
Diverse-sensitive marketing strategies comply with a three-dimension relationship model:
In-culture, when organisations manage to relate successfully with cultural values of minorities and/or specific niche of reference
In-language, when organisations manage to “interpret” rather than “translate” the cultural values defended by minorities. For instance, it is frequent for organisation to employ or consult representatives of the groups of interest targeted by their Marketing strategies – so as to avoid any unpleasant misunderstanding or misjudgement.
In-person, when organisation manage to interact with the audience of reference in a two-way dialogue, much more preferred to a top-down approach.
Extra reading no.2: Word of mouth: a threat or an opportunity?
It really depends on how your offer is perceived by clients.
Positive reviews – it’s free publicity, customers contribute to market the product themselves, without even being aware of it…
Tip: surf the wave and let the momentum going…
Negative reviews – for a reason or another, you failed to satisfy a customer. Any negative-positive ratio greater than 1:5 (2:5 or worse) should concern you, dropping exponentially your opportunities to engage you customers.
Tip: take action immediately, be polite and seek for more precise feedbacks from the very same “angry” customers…you want to do whatever possible to increase your chances to establish a clean reputation.
Bibliography
To remain updated on latest Marketing’s trends, please consult the official AMA website
Training Fiche PPT: 5_enduranceio3ppt-ihf-marketing-final.pptx
Title
Creating and retaining value for customers: a comprehensive introduction to Marketing for aspiring sport entrepreneurs
Keywords
Marketing; Value; Output; Business; Market
Author
IHF
Languages
English
• define long-term communication strategies
• engage external public
• create and retain value for one’s own brand
• establish a positive reputation
• intercept needs and opportunities from the external environment
• define market positioning strategies
• outline a user-friendly and easy-to-understand marketing plan
Description
In general, scholars and practitioners agree on the fact that Marketing is a very broad concept. In this context, we decided to narrow it to its very essentials, without necessarily relying on specific technicalities on which their deepening would require multiple stand-alone training modules.
Our focus is on providing learners fundamentals of Marketing that they can replicate and experiment with within their operational settings.
• Creating and retaining value
o The Value Equation
o Socio-economic context of reference.
o Inputs’ processing
o People
• …so what is Marketing about?
o Two outstanding definitions
o Needs and wants…
o Types of Marketing based on the operative context
o Types of Marketing based on focus
o The Marketing Mix
o The Marketing Mix in the Business Plan
Contents
Creating and retaining value for customers: a comprehensive introduction to Marketing for aspiring entrepreneurs
Creating and retaining value
The Value Equation
In a broader sense, business value builds from three key pillars:
Socio-economic context of reference.
It refers to the overall scale of phenomena that might have an influence on your business idea. Technologies and market trends represent two of the most impactful trends that (aspiring) entrepreneurs look into to design and scale-up their business idea.
Generally speaking, this dimension refers also to:
Due to the typical scale and scope of sport-related business ideas, it is relatively easier to find specific market segments at high profitability margins. More than in other markets, clients of sport industry:
Inputs’ processing
The value generation process falls under a framework that is common to all business.
It is the so defined IPO model:
→ Input
→ Process
→ Output
In business studies, we tempt to consider Marketing among those activities defined as Primary*: contributing in first hand to reach the final client and generate revenues.
* Interpretation based on Porter’s Value Chain: Competitive Advantage, 1985, p.87
People
With People, we refer both to:
! Those who make things happen!
*Contrary to Marketing, HR and People Management fall under Support activities – instrumental for a smooth implementation of Primaries.
Creating and retaining value
In business, the concept of value is very flexible and can have different interpretations:
…so what is Marketing about?
…so what is Marketing about?
This section of the training module is dedicated to introduce participants to what we refer to in business environment when we talk about Marketing.
Generally speaking, people have a “sort of” idea on what is Marketing, as it is normally associated to promotion, advertising and communication. Although this is technically true, it is a very limited and reductive perception of Marketing and its focuses…
Two outstanding definitions
Any activity/task/effort/initiative formally aimed at stimulating customers’ interest can be intentionally considered as “Marketing”. A definition as such of Marketing cover a much larger area of interest that includes communication and promotion and goes way beyond it.
In the context of this training module, our favourite definitions of reference are represented by the ones from:
[Marketing is] the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
[Marketing is] the process by which companies engage customers, build strong customer relationships, and create customer value in order to capture value from customers in return.
Relevant to notice is the difference between the twos:
AMA’s Marketing definition is very market-centred, including a wide range of activities and tasks aimed at satisficing not only customers’ satisfaction, but that of civil society and general public at large. Compared to AMA, Kotler’s definition is much more customer-centred.
Needs and wants…
Regardless of the specific contributions academics and practitioners, all definitions applied to marketing revolving around to three everlasting pillars:
Types of Marketing based on the operative context
Depending on the operative context and the specific market that the organisation looks into, there are several Marketing’s frameworks:
In practice, there are some quite significant implications for businesses operating in B2B markets, compared to B2C ones. The terms of this distinction are:
In the case of sport-related industries, for B2B and B2C, it is most likely that you will orientate your marketing activities to final consumers (B2C) or retailers / other actors of the production chain. In C2B, it is most likely that you will rely on this kind of formula when experiencing with influencers’ social media campaigns. C2C is a Marketing framework that applies to sharing economy’s businesses – very unusual (but not impossible) for sport-related industries.
Types of Marketing based on focus
It is commonly accepted by theorists and professional that since 1930s, Marketing evolved through fours well-distinct eras. As we speak, we are culminating at the peak of the so defined “relationship” era.
The PRODUCTION era → focus on product
The SALES era → focus on brand
The MARKETING era → focus on advertising
The RELATIONSHIP era → focus on customer-centred experience
Which one should you opt for in sport industry?
…there is not a unilateral answer, it really depends on what is the underlie value of your offer.
Are you developing high-tech running sneakers? Product
Are you developing a webzine for off-road bikers? Relation
Are you developing a new hydrophobic swimsuit? Product
Are you developing eco-friendly gym elastic band? Sales
Are you developing an app to monitor athletic performance? Sales
The Marketing Mix
The Marketing Mix is the most important tool at the disposal of Marketing specialists to generate product/service awareness and place their offer to the final market. For decades, the model of reference to design the marketing mix has been represented by the 4Ps model, originated in the 60s:
Around the 80s, two variants found a consolidated consensus among theorists and practitioners: the 7Ps and 4Cs models.
8Ps:
4Cs (customer driven):
For the sake of this training module, let’s look at the left one only. Each of the mentioned represents an asset on which entrepreneurs rely on to give content and format to the many possible way they can reach their market of interest (e.g., off-road bikers, runners, swimmers, etc.).
Tips:
Bear in mind
The Marketing Mix in the Business Plan
When we talk about “Marketing Mix”, we refer to the formal document in which organisation, entrepreneurs and marketing specialists detail the marketing strategy for the overall organisation or for a specific service/produce launched in the market.
Generally speaking, the marketing planning is included already into the overall business plan of the organisation:
The ones highlighted in blue represent the typical sections in which you will provide for very precise information about your marketing mix.
Recommendation:
For a better reader’s understanding, you can attach your whole marketing plan in annex to the business plan. The general outline of a Marketing Plan is a narrative disclosure of the 8 key elements of the Marketing Mix, with specific reference to:
Extra reading no. 1: New marketing frontiers
In globalised economies and societies, Marketing specialists are particularly responsive to the wide cultural diversity within their audience. Diversity Marketing is about fine-tuning organisation’s communication and messages to the cultural background of potential recipients.
Even for large organisation, understanding the intrinsic diversity of their customers (loyal as well as potential) is a very delicate and time-demanding process, but it is also instrumental in reflecting, portraying and valorising a trustworthy and reliable image: the one that people would expect before establish any sort of relation with that given organisation.
Diverse-sensitive marketing strategies comply with a three-dimension relationship model:
Extra reading no.2: Word of mouth: a threat or an opportunity?
It really depends on how your offer is perceived by clients.
Positive reviews – it’s free publicity, customers contribute to market the product themselves, without even being aware of it…
Tip: surf the wave and let the momentum going…
Negative reviews – for a reason or another, you failed to satisfy a customer. Any negative-positive ratio greater than 1:5 (2:5 or worse) should concern you, dropping exponentially your opportunities to engage you customers.
Tip: take action immediately, be polite and seek for more precise feedbacks from the very same “angry” customers…you want to do whatever possible to increase your chances to establish a clean reputation.